Yesterday, we told about the Massachusetts moving company that decided it would be a good idea to threaten a Yelp reviewer with a lawsuit if she didn’t remove the review ASAP. Now the movers are saying they don’t want the review deleted, just corrected. [More]
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Moving Company Realizes It Probably Shouldn’t Have Threatened Lawsuit Over Negative Yelp Review
By 11.15.12
Moving Company Picks The Wrong Person To Threaten To Sue Over Bad Yelp Review
By 11.14.12 — Updated: 6.28.16
In May 2011, Kristen’s parents had a bad experience with a Massachusetts-based moving company. So on their behalf she wrote a negative, one-star review of the incident on Yelp. Just the other day, 18 months after the review was posted, she received a letter demanding she remove the review by Nov. 21 or face a lawsuit for libel. [More]
Shop Owner Drives To Customer’s House After Bad Yelp Review
By 10.26.12
After receiving his first negative Yelp review, the owner of a California store made repeated attempts to contact the disgruntled customer in the hopes of turning him into a gruntled customer, and ultimately ended up at the Yelper’s doorstep. But before you go looking for the shop owner’s mug shot, this is actually a good thing. [More]
Yelp Conducts Sting To Catch Businesses Who Buy Reviews
By 10.18.12 — Updated: 9.12.13
Since the dawn of Yelp, a handful of businesses have been accused of trying to game the system by paying for positive reviews on the site. Recently, Yelp operatives began going undercover to bust companies for this no-no, and anyone caught buying reviews will be forced to carry a badge of shame for the 90 days. [More]
Restaurant Dangles Refund If We Replace Scathing Yelp Review With A Five-Star One
By 10.4.12
Have you ever visited a restaurant or store that was really terrible, but had lots and lots of four- and five-star Yelp reviews? Maybe they’re engaging in practices similar to a restaurant that Jennifer reviewed. They offered her a refund to change her poor review to four or five stars. She and her fiancé brought a large family group to a steakhouse for a pre-wedding “meet the family” dinner. Was it the second tip that the waiter added to their bill for himself, the extra $400 in seafood dinners added to their tab, or the the attempted sleight-of-hand with bottled water? She wrote about all of it, and the restaurant didn’t like it. The refund, however, was only to come after she revised the original review and pretended the bad experience never happened. [More]
Cupcake Shop Turns On Yelp Reviewers While Refusing To Ever Use The Letter “Y”
By 6.22.12
While it must be hard to read negative reviews of your work, business owners should come to terms with the fact that customers are going to turn to online outlets to discuss their experiences. The good, the bad, the ugly –Â it all gets aired for the benefit of consumers. Which makes it really an unfortunate display of unprofessional behavior when businesses come out swinging against their reviewers. [More]
Diner Demands $100 Gift Card To Not Post Negative Yelp Review
By 5.29.12
We’ve written before about companies offering free stuff or discounts in exchange for positive online reviews — or for removing negative comments — but a restaurant in California says a disgruntled diner tried to use the threat of a scathing Yelp review to squeeze a $100 gift card out of the eatery. [More]
Patient Sues Dentist Who Threatened Legal Action Over Yelp Reviews
By 12.1.11
A number of dentists who fear what effect a negative review on a site like Yelp can have on their business have been compelling patients to sign “privacy agreements” that aim to stop annoyed customers from going public with their complaints. But one patient has decided that these agreements go too far, especially after his comments on Yelp resulted in his dentist coming after him for money. [More]
Bridal Store Refuses To Sell Wedding Gown To Lesbian
By 8.18.11
A New Jersey bridal store is catching a lot of flack after it refused to sell a wedding dress to a lesbian. [More]
Yelp Elite Reviewers Engage In Degenerate Feeding Frenzy, Terrify Waitstaff
By 3.23.11
The phrases “elite Yelp reviewer” and “ravenous horde” do not normally go together, but this e-mail from Yelp to its most insightful and prolific New York City users makes us wonder. In the e-mail, members of the Elite squad are scolded for poor etiquette, auctioning off their event invitations to the highest bidder(!), and swarming on trays of free food like a swarm of highly opinionated locusts, terrifying waitstaff and keeping less ravenous partygoers from tasting the snacks. [More]
Chef Doesn't Quite Appreciate Reviews From Inbred, Jobless, Bored Yelp Users
By 11.10.10
Some people don’t like to be criticized, especially when the criticism comes from amateurs and when said criticism can have an impact on their income. Just ask the chef at a restaurant in Denver who has kicked up a crap storm after unleashing his true feelings about Yelp.com reviewers. [More]
Yelp Reviewer Gives 1 Star For Restaurant That Hasn't Opened Yet
By 9.1.10
As with any community-sourced online content, Yelp’s reviews can vary widely in quality. Still, this may be one of the most ridiculously self-entitled and clueless reviews anyone has ever posted about a restaurant: [More]
Yelp & OpenTable Team Up So You Can Complain About Restaurant And Then Make Reservation
By 6.4.10
Review site Yelp.com has partnered up with restaurant reservation service OpenTable.com to offer users a seamless service that will allow them to read/write reviews of a restaurant and then make a reservation without leaving the site. [More]
Yelp Accused Of More Negative Review Extortion
By 2.27.10
Yet again, business owners are accusing massive review site Yelp of extortion–and they’ve filed a class action lawsuit. This time, instead of guaranteeing positive reviews in exchange for cupcakes, the site is accused of contacting business owners and offering to remove their negative reviews for money. In a written statement, Yelp denied the allegations and noted, “Running a good business is hard; filing a lawsuit is easy.” [More]
Should Yelp Remove Reviews By Non Customers?
By 11.20.09
Lehigh Pub, the restaurant in Pennsylvania that had two patrons arrested for not tipping, was blasted on Yelp in the past 24 hours or so by angry readers. Many of them weren’t customers, but heard about the arrests in the news and came to vote down the pub. As of this morning, it had an average of one star out of five.
Make $20-$40 A Pop Shilling On Yelp
By 11.17.09
Did you know that you can earn $20-$40 at time just for lying? According to this Craigslist ad, a New York business owner desperate for positive reviews on Yelp, an online yellow pages couples with user reviews, is shelling out for shills.
Yelp Will Allow Business Owners To Respond To Negative Comments
By 4.10.09
Angry small business owners get your keyboards ready — Yelp is going to let you respond to negative comments! This is going to be …. awkward! Oh well, we love a good fight.
